


les amoureux des animaux

by reylomami



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Chewie is a dog, Elusive Kylo, F/M, HEA, Jobless and unregretful Rey, Living in expat house, Meet-Cute, Pawshake App, Pet Sitting, Trigger warning - pet passing away, fluff ending, london living, pet euthanasia, rey likes cat videos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-09
Updated: 2019-02-10
Packaged: 2019-10-25 00:50:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17714915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reylomami/pseuds/reylomami
Summary: Rey leaves her job in a whim after a quarter-life crisis. With too much time suddenly in her hands to rethink her life and her identity, Rey finds money-making respite in a pet-sitting job from Pawshake.A Reylo Pawshake AU with poor time coordination and fluff out of meet-cutes and mournings.





	1. Dogged

**Author's Note:**

> I did a thing. Learned from a friend's friend that they find very temporary pet-sitting jobs at Pawshake and that they could actually live in fancy, huge, expat houses while on the job - so I got ideas and here we are.

“I’m sorry — you said _what_?”

“Oh, don’t be so theatrical, Finn. It’s just a job.”

Finn’s jaw drops and his spoonful of cereal is forgotten. “You mean the MNC job that you worked yourself to death to earn that promotion two months ago? Are you _insane_?”

Rey rolls her eyes at his incredulity. She can’t second-guess herself now. The damage has been done: quickly and efficiently, much to the surprise of her co-workers and her supervisor.

“I can’t believe you left your job,” Finn continues, his eyes agog as he watches Rey listlessly ruffle through the kitchen to fix herself breakfast like it was a Sunday instead of Wednesday.

“Was this something you’ve been planning for?”

“Nope.”

“Did you give them a two-weeks’ notice?”

“I did. But I’m not showing up anymore.”

“What the fuck?” Finn does not believe what he’s hearing from her right now. The boss bitch, pragmatic, survivor Rey, laying down everything and walking out of all her hard work and labour? It just did not make sense.

“Can you please explain to me why you’re doing this again?”

Rey chews on her toast and shrugs. “I just wanted to.”

“Are you sick?”

The question earns Finn a look of distaste from her.

With a shake of her head, she says, “I just need time for myself.”

Finn looks like he still has plenty to ask. Thankfully enough, he does not speak up anymore. He’s known Rey long enough to recognise the gravity of her words and to back off accordingly. For a hardworking survivor like her, people had to know when to give her space for herself.

The following days that follow come in a blur. Mostly because Rey loses herself in a cycle of activities that she has longed to indulge in but never had the time for: experimental cooking from Facebook videos, cat videos and Reddit. Day and night blend into one entity as she remains cooped in their shared Hackney flat.

To her credit, Rey does a couple of light cleaning: she rearranged her book shelf, she began watering her plants again, and she decluttered her work table. And by the time she finishes, it’s only two o’clock.

The thought of going outside is enough to make her recoil. Her former job had bestowed on her many decision-making responsibilities and required extensive networking that she should have been grateful for. But the truth of the fact is: all of it was not for her.

In all the networking events and conversations that she had with important executives and regional managers, the shallow nature of it all exhausts her. At the beginning, she could stomach the formalities and pleasantries to clinch a deal, work a win-win negotiation – but the false charm of it all soon start to bite her core and she just _left_.

 _To preserve her sanity and her sense of self_ , she told herself then.

Seven weeks pass by in a blur by the time her roommates forcefully pull her out of her cat videos-and-Reddit cycle.

Finn had been openly complaining to Poe about Rey and her cat videos (and maybe her being irresponsibly jobless with no other contingency plans to date) when Poe lights up with an idea:

“Pawshake!”

Poe slides his phone over to Finn and Rey for them to take a look. “It’s the job-hunting Tinder for Pet Sitters. Rose was telling me about it and how she’s been earning extra cash out of it. You should give it a go, Rey.”

“How does it work?” Finn asks on her behalf. Clearly, one of them wanted her out and about more desperately than she does herself.

“Easy, you just sign up as a pet-sitter and check out if there are any gigs out there. You get rated and stuff to boost your credibility. Here, let me set up your profile.”

Rey is far too intrigued by the concept of a pet-sitting job to protest.

“Are people that trustworthy in Hackney?”

“Maybe not here, but there are some jobs where the American expats live – they’re fucking confident of Brits’ honour and all.”

“ _Bullshit_.”

“You think I’m joking?” Poe laughs off their cynicism. “Just give me fifteen minutes and I assure you, _I’m_ gonna get Rey a stint.”

To both Finn and Rey’s surprise, Poe sticks true to his word. He got Rey’s profile fixed and credible-looking (“I watch cat videos for a hobby”) and messaged a couple of clients looking for pet sitters. It didn’t take long for one to get back to them.

**_Hi can you come by this weekend_ **

“Well, there you go.” Poe smugly slides her phone over. “Your first client.”

“Great, jobless no more!”

Rey rolls her eyes at Finn but takes her phone anyway. “ _Hysterical_.”

“So are you gonna take it?” Poe asks.

Rey studies the one-line message for a bit, baffled by how casual and lacking of punctuations it is.

“S’probably an expat,” Poe supplies as Rey’s fingers hesitate over the screen. “They’re always travelling and in need of someone to accompany their beloved pets.”

Finn looks over from behind. “Go on, Rey!”

“I’m on it, I’m on it! —What do I say? Yes?”

“Say you’re excited to!”

            _Sure i’d be happy to!_

_**Great**_

**_Key’s under the potted plant at the front door_ **

**_Housekeeping comes Sunday morning_ **

**_Feel free to help yourself with whatevers in the fridge_ **

_Ok_

“That’s it?”

Poe takes his phone back to take a look. “Hm, seems to me. Your rate’s settled. All approved. Address here. Fuckin’ Hampstead, I knew it. Oh, it’s a dog. Chewbacca. Funny.”

“Chewbacca?”

“What kind of name is that?”

“I thought you said in my profile that I liked cats?”

“Doesn’t matter. Just bring a weekend’s worth of clothes. And read through the instructions that Mister …” Poe narrows his eyes to find the client’s name, “Ren. Read the instructions Mr Ren listed on the app and all is fine. He indicates he does bank transfers only.”

Rey does not know how to feel about staying in someone else’s home to babysit their dog. She’s heard of it but wasn’t the kind to do so herself unless it was a friend of sorts.

“Do I really need to address him as mister?”

Poe and Finn exchanged an amused look that sours her thoughts.

“Nah,” Poe says. “I doubt you’re even going to meet him in person. Expats, you know. He says here that he’ll be back late Sunday night so you can just leave Chewie alone by 9pm.”

 


	2. Settled In

“You are a dog.”

This is _madness_.

“And I – _I_. Am. A _human_ being.”

She has degenerated.

She really has.

Chewbacca doesn’t answer to her calls and she’s losing her mind trying to rationalize to herself why he hasn’t been acting as he had the past weekends when she looked after him.

He’s left a trail of mud on the expensive floor after Rey had gotten out of the shower in her towel.

It’s not just a trail – it’s a fucking maze that spans the entirety of Ren’s huge Scandinavian-designed living room.

If only the floor had been as dark as its walls, and not light wooden panels, the damage control could have been much easier. But Chewbacca left a _fucking trail_ of paw-mud prints on the goddamn floor.

“What’s wrong with you recently, you monster?”

She immediately regrets the name.

Chewbacca is her money source.

She is an _animal-lover_.

Even if she initially said she only adored cats.

A dog she can handle. As the past two weekend-stints have shown her. But this time, he was really getting on her nerves.

Instinctively, Rey rings Lor. The old man was Ren’s housekeeper who comes by on Sunday mornings to do the housekeeping and tend to the front garden. He was a gentle, old man – but he liked to keep to his own self.

Not that Rey has any qualms about not having anyone to talk to – besides the dog – during the long weekends.

“Hey Lor?” She greets upon hearing the other end of the line pick up. “Chewbacca left a mud trail in the house? And – oh, fuck _– Not the couch, Chewie_!”

The damage has been done and Rey shoos the dog out to the backyard before he can do any more mess.

Lor anxiously hums at the other end of the line. “Oh, Rey – the couch is quite the money. The floor I can come by and fix later. At an extra charge too. As for the couch, you might have to ask Ren about that.”

She grimaces at the thought of having to bear such news to the no-face dog-owner.

When Lor hangs up, she runs a frustrated hand through her damp hair and glares at the dog.

“You’re lucky you’re earning me good pocket money,” she sneers at Chewbacca. “If I get a pay cut, I swear to the Queen and her fucking corgis, you’re not getting those treats anymore.”

She messages Ren via the Pawshake app. It was their only mode of communication – not that much communication was needed in the first place with the dog owner – whom she still has yet to face in spite of having looked after his dog for two weekends already.

_Hi ren we’ve got a problem_

She’s carefully typing out the situation – with much consideration for her wording – when the Pawshake app disappears and is replaced with a call sign from an unknown number.

Rey picks it up. “Uh, hello?”

“Hey. There’s a problem?”

Rey’s brows furrow at the unfamiliar, deep American voice. “Uh, Ren?”

“Yeah, it’s me, sorry.” This is the first she’s actually hearing the dog-owner’s voice. He sounds like he’s walking in a noisy place. Next to a populated street probably.

“You said there was a problem?”

“Oh, yes, _yeah_ – Chewbacca dirtied your living room. And the couch.”

There’s a short pause from his end, with only the sound of traffic and walking to be heard.

“He’s toilet-trained,” he says slowly, sounding a little baffled by her news.

Rey shakes her head. “No, like _mud_. He went outdoors, and stepped back in with mud. It was raining before so the backyard was pretty damp and –“

“Why’d you let him go outside?”

Rey pauses. She doesn’t want to reveal that she was showering in his bathroom, does she? He did imply her liberty to make use of the amenities of the house. And it was the non-master bathroom that she used.

But still.

“I was preoccupied with a plumbing issue.”

“Oh.” A pause. “Did you get that looked up?”

“It’s fixed,” she lied. “I called Lor about the mess – he said he’d come by later to fix the floor. But he can’t do much about the couch.”

“Do you charge extra if I said you could just wash the upholstery in the washing machine?”

Rey is dumbfounded by the question.

 _Of course_ she could’ve done that instead of fussing over the delicate material of the upholstery.

“Well – no, I don’t – I just thought these covers require a special kind of wash – “

“No, just a regular one will do.”

“Oh. Okay then.”

“Is that all?” He sounds preoccupied now.

“No, no. That’s all.”

“Great. See ya.”

“See you. Bye.”

 

 

**Two Months Later**

Rey doesn’t see the dog owner even after the next three pet-sitting jobs over alternate weekends. She initially thought she would finally meet him in person when she last called to report on Chewie’s mess.

But that clearly didn’t happen.

She’s not disappointed. She’s just underwhelmed.

It wasn’t like Rey _had_ to know what Ren looked like.

But it just felt odd not to know how your employer looks. It sounded shady, even if it was a mere pet-sitting job. It didn’t help that Ren’s place was void of any family pictures or of loved ones.

A wife, perhaps? No – his place looks too much like a bachelor pad.

(She might not have found a box of condoms, stored aside with other medical supplies when she was snooping out of boredom.)

She learned Ren’s deeper taste for dark palettes when she deliberately explored his place which includes his economic, walk-in closet.

It smelled like money when she first discovered it at her fifth time pet-sitting. Lor was good at making the ambience of the house smell rich perhaps.

His casual wear ranged from black to grey undertones and navy, with a sparse of white ones. The only white clothes that were prominent were his dress shirts, which were notably still outnumbered by the dark coloured ones, and his innerwear.

At one point she felt brave enough to try on some of his blazers. His wide suits were obviously too big for her petite frame. Her reflection on the body-length mirror reminded her eerily of her depressive time at her previous job where she was required to dress to professionally impress.

When she’s not snooping around, Rey later learns that Chewie answers to her more effectively when she calls him by ‘Chewie’ instead of ‘Chewbacca’. Three syllables are too much for a dog’s brain to register, perhaps.

They soon spend more time walking outdoors to appease Chewie’s increasing restlessness. He desir even in his old age.

And as much as she preferred cats, the dog was really starting to charm its way into her - more than it should be. She’s smitten by the amicable bond she has formed with the furry monster.

As much as she got annoyed at getting her face slimy with Chewie’s saliva in the morning, she very much enjoyed waking up to his affection.

It brought back the humanity she lost when she was in her nine-to-five job.

When they’re not taking long walks outside or playing catch at the neighborhood park, they would be lazing on Ren’s huge bed (Chewie liked it there) and watch cat videos on her laptop.

The dog was strangely addicted to it just as she was.

“Oh this one’s good – you’re gonna love this.”

Rey’s just about to click open an old-favourite cat compilation video when the doorbell rang.

Chewie turns his head to look expectantly at her. They exchanged looks for a moment until she realized that one of them has to answer the door.

She quickly pushes herself up and hurries over to whoever’s at the door.

Maybe it’s Ren.

Maybe she’s about to finally see him.

Maybe she’ll finally get to –

 Nope.

“Oh,” the aged visitor says upon seeing Rey.

Rey mentally beats herself for hoping to see Ren.

_Which house owner rings his own door bell in the first place?_

“Hi, may I help you?” She asks the greying man.

“Hello. Does Ben live here?”

The confused look Rey gives him causes him to shake his head.

“I’m sorry. I meant Kylo Ren?”

At this, Rey nods. “Yes, and you are?”

“Luke. An uncle. His only uncle, actually. I was in town and thought to pay him a visit. Do you know where he is?”

Rey looks around, back to Chewie as if the dog could give her a verbal answer.

“No, sorry I don’t. Maybe I could carry a message for you?”

She feels a little bad for the man. He looks visibly worn out.

“It’s alright – no need to. I’ll just come back again. If I may pry a little, do you know when’s a good time to catch him?”

Rey flashes him another regretful look.

“I’m sorry I really don’t know Mr Ren’s schedule.”

“Mr Ren? – Oh, I thought you were his S.O.”

 _Significant other?_ _Jesus_ , Rey thought. _The vernacular of this man_. If he had said ‘girlfriend’ she would have looked more appropriately embarrassed.

“No, I’m just dog-sitting actually.”

Luke eyes her studiously with his cataract-flawed eyes. “Ah, makes sense. A shame, but makes sense.”

Rey does not respond to this.

“He’s out of town then?”

“I believe so, yes.”

Rey notices that the man was starting to look pale.

“Um, perhaps you’d like a drink?”

Luke looks grateful for the offer. “Yes please, if it’s not too much to ask.”

Inviting visitors over to her _not_ -house felt a little traitorous. It wasn’t something Ren – or Ben – has ever clarified in her boundaries list.

He’s an uncle anyway, she rationalized.

Surely, Ren would allow relatives over.

“So you’re taking care of good ol’ Chewie, huh?” Luke doesn’t wait for Rey to answer. He’s already on his frail knees, ruffling Chewies’ head.

The beast responds affectionately to the old man in a way Rey has not seen before. It looks like a reunion of sorts.

“Yes, the job pays well.”

“That’s good to hear. He seems to be flourishing under your care. And Ben’s.” Luke muses, before turning back to Rey and taking the glass of water she had prepared for him.

“How is Ben? Do you know?”

Rey shrugs abashedly once more. “I haven’t met him actually.”

“Really?”

Rey nods with a grin. “I know - I’m surprised too.”

Luke takes a gulp and chuckles a bit.

“Well, _I_ shouldn’t be surprised. The boy has always been elusive since graduation. I really thought I’d see him for real this time. Crossed the ocean and spent the last of my welfare money on a roundabout trip to see him. You know, the big gesture in drama and romance movies kinda thing.”

Rey tries to cover the surprise in her face. The last of his welfare money? How reckless.

(As if her own situation was not reckless enough.)

“When do you fly back?”

“Monday morning,” he says, setting the finished glass down. “D’you think I’ll catch him before then?”

She nods eagerly at him. “I think he returns late on Sunday evenings.”

 

 

Rey doesn’t hear from Luke again. It’s the following Monday morning and she wonders if he got to see Ren before his morning flight.

“You know, there’s a certain glow to your face ever since you took that Pawshake job thing,” Finn says when she’s back at the apartment.

“Hm?”

“There’s this sense of life and purpose in the way you carry yourself.”

Rey’s brows jump at the abstractness of his words.

She always walked with purpose even when she had a proper job – albeit, begrudgingly.

“That’s a lot to take away from my gait alone, Finn.”

“Well, it’s what I see – I think it’s a good thing Poe brought up that Pawshake app.”

“Yeah, it’s good money.”

“The dog too?”

“ _Yes_ , the dog too.” She sounds almost defensive. It felt weird referring to Chewie as ‘the dog’ at this point. She’s grown affectionate of the beast.

Finn grins at her.

“That’s great to hear, Rey.”

The happiness falls short on his face however. Rey knows that he’s about to bring back reality to her.

It’s not like pet-sitting was a viable job. Kylo Ren wouldn’t need a pet-sitter forever. He’s bound to move back to America or something soon.

“Listen, I know you don’t like it when I pry but I need you to know that I’m still worried about you.”

“I know you are, Finn.”

“I gotta tell you something though – Poe and I are looking to move in together by next year.”

Rey’s brows rise higher. “Oh, that’s _wonderful_!”

She’s not sure how they were going to make the three of them fit but –

“Not in this apartment, Rey,” Finn clarifies abashedly.

She pauses in her joy-making.

Her best friend rubs the back of his neck as he explains.

“There’s a good flat outside of Hackney that’s closer to work for the both of us – it’s a lovely neighbourhood really. And the seller was generous to give us a special rate. It’s a bargain we couldn’t refuse.”

This news makes her face fall with realisation. “I see.”

“It’s not like you’re gonna be alone here – we could always find another roommate for you, but you might have to shoulder the rent if the timeframe between me moving out and you finding another roomie doesn’t overlap.”

“Right, _right_.”

A pregnant silence follows.

“You good, peanut?”

“Splendid,” she forces out. “I’m really happy for you and Poe, Finn.”

“Thanks, Rey.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've miraculously prepared up till Chapter 4 in record time. I daresay they're ready for publishing - though I might give some leeway for any feedback as I re-edit along the way.
> 
> Keep in touch with me @reylomami on Twitter and Tumblr :)


	3. Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning: Following two chapters will have to deal with animal death.

“I’m sorry, Chewie, I can’t right now. Give me an hour, love.”

Chewie’s nudging her socked toes relentlessly for the past few hours. Rey hasn’t been able to give him much attention this time round. She’s been glued to her laptop, job-hunting and refining her LinkedIn page after the news Finn broke to her.

In the span of time that has passed since Finn told her he was moving out, she had sent out resumes and personalized several cover letters already.

But it’s just been two weeks. She’s not going to get a response anytime soon.

The job-hunting has to go on.

Chewie manages to slip her sock off and this gets her attention.

“Chewie. No!”

Rey sets her laptop aside to put her sock back on. Hampstead is always chilly.

“What’s the matter with you? You’re so needy – why don’t you go run outside or something for a bit?”

But Chewie remains at her feet. She narrows her eyes down at him before finally succumbing.

“Fine, let’s get that walk done now then.”

 

She was listening to her usual playlist while walking Chewie when she notices an oddity: Chewie wasn’t walking in sync to Gwen Stefani’s ‘Wind it Up’ like he normally did.

It’s not like she was playing the song out loud – she wore earphones.

It had been a cheap thrill she noticed before and found quirky joy in whenever Chewie’s steps were always coincidentally in pace with Gwen Stefani. The song would randomly come up on her shuffle, and every time without fail, his steps were always miraculously in-sync with it.

He’s considerably slacking in his pace now.

And it’s not on purpose.

Rey slows down for him but carries on with the walk, seeing as to how Chewie seemed determined to be outdoors.

But after the next song finishes, she can’t bring herself to ignore the oddity in his breathing.

Chewie was struggling.

He was carrying his weight forward, too determined to finish the walk as if he wasn’t in physical difficulty.

“I think that’s enough walking for now. Let’s turn around and head home, yes?”

Chewie lets out a muffled noise.

She ignores the protest and makes to turn them around, but that’s when Chewie collapses on the ground.

“Chewie?”

His eyes are still open. His body still rapidly moving to signal his struggled breathing. The dog can’t seem to get up.

The blood drains from Rey’s face at the realisation of what’s happening.

 

 

She manages to carry Chewbacca back to Ren’s house in a hurry.

It was a struggle, given the weight of the beast, but she managed to do it.

She googles his condition first thing upon settling him comfortably down and comes to an impasse with the results of her findings.

‘ _Saying Goodbye to your Dog’_ was the top search result.

No - top search _results_. Plural.

“Fuck. Fuck _fuck_. Fuck,” she breathes heavily.

She doesn’t hesitate to press the call button on the Pawshake app. It takes a little too long before the other end of the line comes to life.

“Hi, this isn’t a good time. Could you send a text?”

Rey ignores what he said.

“Chewie’s – “ She’s choking on her words at her breathlessness. “Chewie fell. He can’t get up.”

A long pause follows.

Before she knows it, Ren had hung up.

She’s left to stare at her phone, stumped.

 

 

“ _Stars shining bright above you,_

_Night breezes seem to whisper ‘I love you’,_

_Birds singing in the sycamore trees,_

_Dream a little dream of me …_ “

It’s 2am on a Sunday morning and Rey hasn’t left Chewie’s side since he fell earlier. She only left to put on music to lift the mood up in their loneliness.

Rey’s on her side on the floor, next to the mat Chewie laid on, stroking his fur and singing along to Doris Day as Chewie stared back at her with its ironically soulful eyes.

The same eyes that has seen her out of her dark, miserable days in a relatively short amount of time.

She suspects the same eyes have seen quite the lifetime too.

She thinks of Luke and the way she saw him snuggle Chewie with such affection.

She imagines how Ren probably does the same – however he looks. It’s hard to conjure an image of him based on an old, unfit uncle. The look just doesn’t complement the sleek interiors of Ren’s house.

There’s not much she can wonder about how he had hung up on her call earlier then too.

Either way, she was sure he’s on his way.

She just doesn’t know _when_. But she’s sure of it.

Chewbacca seemed to be all that Ren has based on what little she has gathered of him all this time.

Rey studies Chewie and feels immense love for him. What matters then is that Chewie has someone for company. She smiles a little at the way the dog nuzzles her palm.

After another hour or so, her eyes begin to drift heavily to a close when the door opens and welcomes in a hurried shuffling of heavy feet.

It’s him.

She sits up on the floor and looks at Kylo Ren, taking in his form in its realness.

His raven hair is in an organized mess of a wave from hurrying back home. If he wasn’t in full office wear, she would have thought he had just woken up.

No exchange occurs between them. She knows his attention is dead set on Chewie.

She quickly moves away to make way as Ren rolls his sleeves up his forearms to pick up the immobile beast in his arms.

He did it with much ease than she had.

“You’re in good hands, buddy,” she hears him mutter against Chewie’s fur. The next few words he muffles against the dog are inaudible.

Rey watches Ren breathe against the top of Chewie’s head and the sight of man and dog suddenly makes her feel out of place.

He carefully carries Chewie with him to his room, keeping the door wide open where she can see. Ren lays him on the large bed, before stretching himself alongside the furry body, hugging the large beast close to his equally large chest in a very intimate manner.

The muffled noises Chewie had been making has disappeared.

He’s comforted by Ren’s presence, Rey realizes.

She sees them fall asleep together just as Doris Day’s singing voice fades away with the end of the song.

The dog just needed his owner in his final hours.

 

 

Rey doesn’t leave for her own home that night.

As intrusive as it might be perceived, she wanted to be there at Chewie’s final moments too. If her time with the dog had been a month shorter, she might have the will to leave.

But no, she was emotionally locked in.

With a tentative step, she takes a spare quilt from Ren’s drawers and throws it over their sleeping forms. His arm is protectively wrapped around Chewie’s body and Rey cannot help but study the sight before her.

Kylo Ren was unconventionally regal in his rugged, American looks.

Rey’s eyes shift to his strong nose poking at Chewie’s jutted ear before she notices the man’s own ears. His ears jut awkwardly from the mess of his raven hair and she couldn’t stop herself from lightly pushing his dark locks away.

She’s enchanted by the sight.

Where he looked weary in the brief moment she saw him in his frazzled, conscious state, he looked like a young boy, undisturbed by the world around him, in his sleep.

Her eyes shift back to Chewie, who is snuggled in his owner’s arms. For a moment she wonders what that feels like before grounding herself in reality again.

Thinking for a bit, Rey knows she can’t leave the both of them alone just yet.

Surely, Ren wouldn’t mind her lingering for a while.

 

 

It’s hard to get sleep on Ren’s couch.

Not that it’s uncomfortable – she has accidentally fallen asleep on it several times before. It’s the itching thought of Chewie’s final moments and her possible intrusiveness that kept her awake the whole night.

Before she knows it, it’s six in the morning. She might as well prepare them breakfast.

She has Chewie’s food set in its usual bowl at its usual corner – with the suppressed hope that Chewie would walk himself over to feed himself upon waking up.

Then comes the human food.

She searches Ren’s fridge and finds some eggs and milk. His cabinet is sparse but there’s an old pancake mix that she could work with. She can get creative with her cooking so she puts her skill to use.

Rey whips up the special omelette that Finn and Poe loves, sets it next to a set of generic pancakes, and prepares coffee when she’s done with the main set.

She’s sipping her coffee and scrolling her phone for any messages when she hears him walking over.

“Is this breakfast?” An awed voice speaks.

Her eyes immediately rise from her phone screen.

Ren’s awake.

He’s still in his office wear - worn off from the day and crumpled from the night’s sleep. His mop of hair is further disheveled than when it was when he arrived.

She makes a poor attempt to gesture at him to fix it.

To her mild surprise, he takes the hint immediately. His large hands come up to tame his hair as he joins her side at the kitchen counter to prepare himself coffee too.

“Thanks for sticking around,” he says, sniffing his morning sinus away (or at least that’s what she thinks) as he stirs his mug. “And for the breakfast.”

“My pleasure.” Rey takes a tentative sip from her own mug. “I’m sorry this would be your memory of me.”

Ren looks at her, prodding her to clarify.

“… This being the first time I’m seeing you in person?” She lamely explains.

Realisation dawns on his face and he nods in agreement.

“Right, yeah – you don’t have to apologise for that. I should actually. But it is what it is.”

Rey nods understandably. Busy professionals with a timeline to chase and a place to be – she’s been there before.

She waves to the food awaiting them at the dining table. Ren silently thanks her with a nod and gestures her to join next to him too.

They eat amicably in silence, Rey noticing Ren steal anxious glances at where Chewie still lay on his bed through the open door.

The silence, coupled with the repressed anxiety, stretches on.

Rey’s about to pick up her phone and make the pretense of being busy with messages when Ren finally speaks up.

“I’m taking Chewie to Maz Kanata’s later. She’s the vet.”

Rey slows down her chewing and swallows. She understands what he’s implying.

“Wouldn’t want to extend the pain for too long,” he says in a faux casual manner as he finished the remains of his meal.

Rey finishes her plate shortly after. “Are you prepared?”

A momentary silence stretches, him pondering deeply about her question.

“I’m not sure actually.” His eyes are red-rimmed, she notices.

She purses her lip and clears her throat, unsure of what to say when he meets her eyes.

“Can anyone ever be ready?”


	4. Peace

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy shit. I churned these chapters out in record time.

He hadn’t asked for her to accompany him to the vet.

But she got the impression he needed someone. It just didn’t seem right to leave him to deal with his dog’s impending fate alone.

Yes, it seemed odd that he had no one else with him – but then she remembers he’s an expat. He’s in a foreign land.

She was probably the only one who could accompany him at the moment.

And so she did.

The process was clinical and efficient. Ren had held onto Chewie throughout. When she saw his large hand tremble against Chewie’s fur at the final moments, she placed her own over his and squeezed reassuringly.

She can only hope that the gesture was effective in comforting him.

Rey learned that Maz was a family vet when the senior lady asked Ren if he’d like to help Luke fly back for Chewie’s cremation.

They must be close family friends.

“No, I don’t want to physically tire him out,” Ren had said, all business-like.

But Rey saw through his façade, even in the short time they’ve since met, she could tell.

He was desperately trying to play it cool.

She would know because she’s tried to do the same back at work when she first learned about her parents.

Finn had helped her to track her parents down then – believing that the technology they have today would make the search much easier.

The result of it was not a happy one, that’s all she could say about it. The realisation of her true fate and her parents wretched her for almost a year. Every passing day at work was a struggle to keep a composed face.

It was a miracle they promoted her even then.

 

Chewie’s now cremated.

Rey finds herself on the busy streets with a very stoic-looking Ren. He seems dazed from the events of the day. It’s still a Sunday afternoon, too early for drinks to make toasts for Chewie.

The idea of Ren sitting alone by himself in his large house does not sit well with her either.

So the next smartest thing she could think of was:

“Would you like to watch cat videos with me?”

Rey does not register how stupid she sounded once the question has been uttered. But it did the trick to slowly snap Ren out of the dark abyss of his thoughts.

He looks at her with his dark eyes, scrutinizing her own.

“Sure. Why not?”

 

They find themselves shortly on a park bench with takeaway Chinese food and her iPhone held between them watching silly cat videos.

The classic compilation she chose was a favourite – and it did help to stir some amusement for the both of them. If one would consider a huff of a breath from Ren a form of laughter. She allowed herself to chuckle audibly once in a while.

When the video ended, they returned their attention to the remainder of their Chinese food.

“I watched these videos with Chewie, believe it or not.”

Ren’s mouth tugs a little at the revelation. “I can’t, but sure.”

“It’s hard to explain, but he seemed to enjoy it as much as I did.”

Rey figures that Ren is not much of a talker in the way he allows silence to fall between the both of them so often.

It’s not an uncomfortable silence. It just feels a little odd for two people who are not long-time friends or lovers to be able to bask in an easy moment of quiet together.

Or perhaps it’s the fact that he’s technically still mourning.

“You know,” Ren started after a while. “With your name being Rey, I would’ve thought you were a man.”

Rey pauses her chewing and the dumpling she’s attending to sticks out of her mouth.

“ – Huh?”

“When you called about the mud trail Chewie left,” he reminded. “I wasn’t expecting a female voice.”

This confuses her because it must have been indicated somewhere on her Pawshake profile that she was female.

“I thought that was clear on the app.”

Ren shrugs. “I might’ve skimmed through profiles and requested for someone based on convenience,” he reflects.

“Chewie doesn’t do well with women. So it’s quite amazing how he warmed up to you in a short amount of time.”

Rey cringes at the memory of her first weekend with Chewie. She had thought her lack of experience with dogs was the main factor for her difficult time with him.

“Explains why you missed the part where I indicated that I’m a cat-lover then,” she muses. “Good thing I’m an innate dog-whisperer.”

Ren actually laughs a bit at this. “Really now?”

“Oh yeah, they bow down when I pass and respond all the time to all my whims.” She picks the last of her dumplings before smirking up at him. “If you’d been around you would’ve seen it. Truly a sight to behold.”

His cheeks crinkle around his eyes at her joke.

“What a waste. I missed out big time.”

As Rey sets her empty takeaway box, she crosses her arms and looks at him curiously.

“So what now? Are you gonna find another pet to settle with?”

Ren shakes his head quickly with much conviction.

“Fuck no,” he huffs. “Chewie’s one of a kind. I can’t replace him.”

“It’s not about _replacing_ him.”

“No, but nothing can fill his place in my life. He was my dad’s best friend,” he explained.

Rey notices the flash of regret on his face for accidentally divulging more than what was necessary. He decides not to backtrack anyway.

“My dad’s long dead. I only took Chewie in because my mother passed away a year ago.”

She stills next to him, unsure of what to say, but somehow still grateful for the peek into the mysterious details of his life.

“Couldn’t your uncle look after him?”

The way Ren glances sideways at her reminds her of the traitorous feeling she had of allowing Luke into his house. Something about the way he clenches his jaw told her that she should not have told his uncle about when his nephew would be around.

“He’s too frail to. And Chewie, as you can tell, is an active one. They wouldn’t have survived together.”

“Well, you did a good job of giving him the best final year in his life,” Rey concluded.

He, however, was not satisfied with such a conclusion.

“Not a year - just the final two or three months since you came in,” he says with much candor, his tone business-like once again.

Rey huffs his statement away mockingly.

“You don’t believe me?” He asks in amusement, his dark eyes meetings hers. The contact lingers for a moment. “It’s true, you know.”

Ren shifts his gaze to the open field before them and shrugs.

“Chewie wasn’t the most fond of me when I took him in. As a kid, yes. But not so much as an adult. So you can imagine the surprise I had when Chewie greeted me at the door when I arrived back after your first weekend. His tails were actually _wagging_. I couldn’t fucking believe it.”

Rey, who doesn’t take genuine personal compliments well, blinks away.

“Of course he’d be happy to see you. You were awfully intimate with him last night.”

“Well it wasn’t always like that.”

Rey wants to prod further, but she knows that she would be pushing the limits of their current acquaintanceship. She nods instead and makes to stand to clear their takeaway boxes.

Ren watches her, his expression unreadable.

“Well,” she concludes once more, “Thank you for the job. It paid well these past few months.”

He blinks up at her.

“Will you be alright on your own?” She got the feeling he won’t be, but it was only courtesy to ask before making her leave.

“Do you have any other source of income?” He dodges her question with another from himself.

And boy did the question stump her.

“No, not really.”

“So – you’re jobless? From my doing?”

“ _No_. You take too much credit. It’s not your doing, clearly,” she said. “And I’m not jobless. I’m job- _hunting_ , long before even.”

She’s still standing a distance before him where he’s comfortably man-spreading on a park bench.

“What did you work as?”

 _Straightforward_.

“I was in product development. Previously a district manager at Niima Corps.”

“Niima Corps?” Ren seems to be surprised at his. “You’re kidding me. I don’t mean to be rude but – did you get fired or something?”

Rey rolls her eyes. “ _No_. I left.”

“Why?”

“What ‘why?’ I just did.”

“It’s in the top twenty companies to work for, what made you want to leave?”

Rey wasn’t able to explain it to Finn then, but by some miracle the natural answer easily came out of her for Ren:

“Because I’m 26 and devastatingly miserable and the life before me looked bleak and lifeless.”

“Sounds like you just needed a boyfriend.”

Now this, she took offence with.

“ _Hey_ \- fuck you.”

Ren lifts his hands in surrender and in apology, clearly not expecting to be so accurate based on her reaction.

“Just a hypothesis -  _Wait_ , come on, won’t you spare some patience for someone in mourning?”

Rey turns around from where she was about to leave, clearly realizing her growing soft spot for the tall, elusive lad. She just didn’t want to revisit the ugly times of her past year.

“I’m not going to bring it up if you don’t want me to.”

Ren politely pats on the vacant seat next to him and she begrudgingly follows. He does not miss the cautious sideway look on her face.

“I’m sorry. I just couldn’t figure you out,” he humbly explains.

“Dog-sitting is a noble job,” Rey says. “Too bad you can’t offer me full-time.”

Her dry humour is enough of an encouragement for him.

They sit in silence again, a comfortable one that they both relish. A couple of kids run around the park, with their pet dog chasing after them. It brings a sad smile to both Rey and Ren’s faces.

Another thought comes to mind to Rey just then.

She scratches her head and looks at the man next to her.

“I can’t seem to figure you out too, I must say.” It was a delayed response to what he said about her.

He seems distracted with his own thoughts however, too far away to be concerned with what she just said.

“Well, we’ve just met.”

“ - Why did your uncle call you ‘Ben’?”

 _Going straight to the point_.

The question catches his fullest attention. He looks at her for a moment before looking down at where her feet are crossed.

“I see we’re getting personal now.”

She scoffs mockingly at this. “I just saw you through your dog’s passing, give me a break.” She turns to him and waits.

“Ben’s my given name. Kylo Ren’s a … professional _alias_ of sorts.”

“Why? Are you in the cartel business?”

It should have been downright offensive. But unlike her, Ren could clearly take a joke born out of genuine curiosity.

“ _You_ wish - But no.” He laughs a bit and shrugs back on the bench, stretching his arms along it, very briefly brushing Rey’s back. “There was a time I wanted to sever ties with my family. So I went by a different name.”

“And now?”

“I’ve made peace with them before my mother died.” Ren affords a glance at her, seeing if the topic has taken too much of a downturn for an acquaintanceship.

“A little too late for my old man but I can only hope it’s not too late for whatever temporal limitations our reality has compared with the afterlife,” he continues.

He brings a hand to brush the tip of his nose.

Rey smiles a little at him, warmed at the thought of his opportunity to make peace with his loved ones – however troubled his past might seem.

“You didn’t have to bend to my will so easily,” she mocks lightly at his openness, a playful grin tugging at her lips.

“But thanks for telling me, Ren.”

She didn’t know what propelled her to thank him, but she did. It only felt right to because he had not been obligated in any way to tell her so much.

And yet he did.

He seems to realise this too, by the way he returns her look. 

It’s the first time he notices her eyes are a special hazel colour.

“You can just call me Ben.”

 


	5. Amour

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is for N <3

The rest of Sunday passed by in an oddly serene, blissful manner. They had talked their way throughout the remainder of the afternoon before grabbing dinner at the closest food stall along the streets.

In that time, Rey learned that Ben worked for the First Order.

The blasé way he had said it almost made her go ballistic.

“ _Jesus Christ_ – you could have said you were working for Microsoft and I wouldn’t have budged. Please tell me you work as the janitor.”

“Yeah, I do actually.” He nodded to play along. “They fly me here to clean their glass office because they recognized that my service is one of a kind.”

“Ground-breaking.”

Ben clarified that he was an associate for the F.O. – whatever that meant. Rey merely nodded as if she got his drift before feasting down on her cheese burger.

They talk a lot even until the later hours of the night. By ten, he had implicitly offered to walk her home (“Which way to yours?”) and she had not realised it until she was at her block’s front step.

They had been too engrossed in their conversation to think about parting.

At the end, they did not exchange numbers. But she did ask if he was on Facebook, to which he replied “Yeah, yeah – I think so.”

“You think so?”

“I don’t really do social media.”

“Shame.”

“Not really.”

They part after that, the finality of their goodbyes and “See you whenever” feeling a little wrong for her taste.

But it is what it is.

Rey disappears into the block of her shared apartment, and he turns back from where they came from to go home.

 

 

The Monday after that evening feels surreal to her.

The reality that she was truly, utterly jobless is a major slap to her face.

“You ok there, peanut?” Finn asks when he sees her sprawled on their couch.

“No actually.”

“What’s wrong?”

 _Holy fuck_. Tears were actually welling up in her eyes. She didn’t cry when Chewie passed, so why was she crying now?

Finn didn’t miss a beat in her odd silence.

Realisation dawned unto him without her saying anything. The dog passing, her being utterly jobless again – not that she can’t get another stint from Pawshake. But it just wouldn’t feel the same as before.

“Do you want to go out for drinks tonight with Poe?”

“I don’t want to see Poe,” she said harmlessly.

But there was a bit of a truth to what she said. After all, Poe ruined her life by introducing the Pawshake app to her, and thereby introducing Chewie and Ben into her life – only for them to disappear as quickly as they came in.

It feels a little too similar with her parents. Albeit, a different context.

“You miss them.”

She didn’t think she could express what she was feeling until Finn verbalized it for her.

 

 

In the span of the following year, Rey managed to get a job.

It paid a little less than her previous one, but it was understandable given that the new firm she was working for was a start-up.

It had a generous flexible schedule, and the number of co-workers she had there was small, which made things feel genuinely intimate. Every project she was assigned felt meaningful, what with the goals that the startup aligned itself with.

Finn moved out as soon as she started to work again and instead of finding a boarder to lease his now-vacant room to, she got herself a cat.

“Baby’s such a stupid name.”

“It’s _BB_. Not ‘baby’.”

Finn merely rolls his eyes. “Still weird.”

BB was a Scottish Fold breed. And Rey absolutely adores her new cat. No cat videos can make her squirm more than BB does when it cuddles its small body to her chest.

She spoils the cat by sending it for grooming at Maz Kanata’s every fortnight. Maz was the only vet she ever knew.

The first time she walked in, Rey had been surprised to know that the old vet still recognized her from the first time.

“Oh, Benjamin’s friend. Lovely to see you again.”

“Yes, it’s been a while hasn’t it?”

“New pet, you two?”

The assumption surprises Rey but she laughed it off easily. “Oh, _no_ , no no. This is my own. I haven’t heard from Ben since.”

Maz had looked at her with what she thought was disappointment. “Oh, shame.”

Like her encounter with Luke, she did not respond to this.

 

 

 

BB truly was a spoiled cat. Rey saw through it.

Her cat simply _enjoyed_ being groomed by Maz’s delicate hands whenever they paid a visit.

“You’re lucky I’m earning enough for you to be groomed to the nines,” Rey told BB when they find themselves waiting back at Maz’s once more. “You don’t like getting dirty _at all_ , do you?”

The cat obviously does not give her a verbal response. But it does snuggle up to her neck and Rey is floored by the gesture as always.

“ - A walk twice a day, some ball every other day in the week, you got it.”

The familiar voice emerges from Maz’s clinic room where she hosts pet owners and their furry friends.

Rey doesn’t have the time to look up to match the voice with a face. She’s too distracted by an approaching Labrador whose interest was piqued at the sight of her and BB on the waiting chairs.

The dog barks a little too excitedly for her comfort at them. Rey protectively wraps BB tighter to her chest in response.

“Easy boy,” she warns, trying to move away from the dog.

But it just comes closer and further intrudes her space.

“Artoo – _no_.”

Rey looks up and finds its owner bending over to put on his leash back on.

“Sorry about that. Artemis is just being _too_ friendly over here – “

It’s _Ben_.

He hasn’t looked up at her and she’s sitting before him, utterly dumbfounded.

“It’s nothing,” she manages to squeak out, trying not to be so awed at the sight of him.

She notices the way he pauses at her voice. His eyes quickly leave Artoo to meet hers.

“Rey?”

“Hi.”

A pause follows. “Hey there.”

A stunned silence passes by the both of them again: Ben halfway bent over his dog, Rey seated before him, their eyes mystically locked on each other.

Maz’s voice interrupts their moment when she calls for Rey to come in. That’s when Ben notices BB in her arms.

“You got a cat.”

She nods with a tentative smile. She looks over at Artoo – or Artemis.

“And you got a dog after all.”

Ben grins. “What can I say? Chewie left a mark I couldn’t ignore.” He brings himself to his full height just as Rey stands up with BB from her seat.

“I see the cat videos left quite a big one on you too.” He cocks his brow at her cat and she laughs a little in agreement.

“BB,” she introduced him.

“Artemis. Or Artoo, if you like.”

Rey smiles down at Artoo, whose tongue is now lapping at her bare calf under her skirt. (“Artoo, _no_.”)

Ben looks at her, taking in the sight of her too just as she did with him. “I just got back here last month from New York.”

“Work stuff?”

“Of sorts, yeah.”

Maz’s voice rings across the hallway again and Rey breaks the enchantment of their locked eyes, smiling politely at him to make her leave.

“It’s really nice to see you again – with Artoo,” she tested.

Ben nods at her, an unsureness in his movement.

“Same with you.”

With a finality in her nod, she takes a step away, better prepared this time for the underwhelming conclusion of their unexpected (long-awaited, from her part) encounter.

“Rey,” he cautiously calls out before she could really leave. She turns around at him with a curious look.

BB’s attention is just as piqued as hers now.

“I didn’t think it was appropriate then to ask,” he said, a little awkwardly, “But I was wondering if you have any plans after your appointment with Maz today?”

It takes all of Rey’s decorum not to show her gob smacked reaction so fully on her face.

“I don’t. But what for?”

“A date?”

Her brows rise immediately.

Ben chews a little on his lip, waiting a little nervously in spite of how well put together he looks.

“For _us_ or for the pets?” She had to ask. Wouldn’t want to get into the mistake of making wrong assumptions.

The question clearly surprises him.

“Both, if you want.”

Maz’s voice calls out for her a little more impatiently again. It gets both of their attention and Rey quickly nods her head at him in earnest approval.

A grin stretches on her face then and she doesn’t think about hiding it.

“I’d really like that.”

He breaks into a handsome grin at this.

She can't fully process the fact that he's looking at her that way at that specific moment. The fluttery sensation he gives her tells her how utterly _fucked_ she is then.

“Great. Me too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you like this, send the love @reylomami on Twitter/Tumblr or down below <3 Hope you guys enjoyed this lil treat!

**Author's Note:**

> Shoutout to Londoners if I ever got any of these location/residential class facts wrong, do help a sista out!


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